


Ka Honi Mai Me Ke Aloha

by Cinderella1181



Category: Actor RPF, British Actor RPF, Real Person Fiction
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-22
Updated: 2015-06-21
Packaged: 2018-03-08 14:35:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3212693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cinderella1181/pseuds/Cinderella1181
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Benedict Cumberbatch is looking forward to spending the next 10 days in paradise with his family. His niece is getting married and a vacation is just what he needs. But when an unexpected guest arrives in the form of Imogene Menzies, he is forced to rethink his whole life. Maybe the girl with pig tails and braces wasn’t so bad after all?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Benedict opened up the boot of the rental car and looked around the parking lot. He pulled the suitcases from the back and set them down on the wet pavement. The sound of footsteps on the path made him look around the car. He smiled. “Hello Mummy.”

“Oh I thought it was you! You are the only one to not arrive! How are you my love?” Wanda said and came and cupped his face in her hands and kissed him. “Was the flight good, did you have much trouble finding the flats?” 

“No it was remarkably easy, and the flight was long. I am only glad I didn’t have to come from London like you all.” He grinned. “How on earth did Emily find this place?” 

“This is where Dominic proposed to her. Remember when they came on vacation? This is the flats they stayed at. She fell so in love with it, she decided to marry here and since so many of the family have made the journey, we have let every place in the entire complex. You have the last single.” She smiled and went to pick up a bag.

“I have it mum.” He smiled. “Come on let’s get settled, I am deeply in need of a nap.”

She smiled at him. “I just really hope that someday soon, I get to be the mother of the groom, not the grandmother of the bride.” 

Ben cut his eyes toward her. “Really mum? I’ve been here, what 4 minutes?” He laughed a little. “I don’t think that is going to happen any time soon. No prospects.” 

“What about that nice girl you were seeing, what was her name, Natalie?” Wanda asked leading him down the path between the buildings, that from what Ben could tell had not been updated since the 1970’s. 

“She didn’t want the same things I wanted, so, we just sort of drifted apart. Mum, I promise you, I am actively seeking.” He smiled. “I will find someone and I will make you a grandmother again.”

“I would appreciate it. I am not looking forward to the prospect of being a great gran before you making me a gran.” She shook her head. She led him out onto the grassy area that opened up to the bay. 

Ben stopped and looked across at the view. “Wow.” The complex that their family and friends were occupying for the next ten days sat at the far end of Waialua Bay on the island of Kauai. The ocean turned and fought against the rocks at their end of the bay, the palm trees swayed in the breezes of the trade winds. “Now I see why Emily picked this place. It’s beautiful.” 

“It is. And we have the run of the place. The real estate agent that has been handling all of the rentals reminded us that the waters in the bay can be a little rough, but if you’re careful, there is excellent swimming and surfing.” She smiled. “Oh look, there is your father and Tracy.” She waved her hand and Ben turned to look up the small rise towards the building. He smiled and saw his father and sister coming across the grass barefoot. He had never in all of his years seen them so free.

“Ben! Oh I am so glad you’re here!” Tracy said and wrapped her arms around him. “You look so good, my god, the pictures just don’t do it justice. I hate only being able to talk to you and not see you more often. My favorite little brother!” 

“I am your only little brother Tracy!” He laughed and held her tight. 

“That’s why you’re my favorite.” She laughed and kissed him. “Mummy, go up and tell Emily Ben’s made it, the last of the Cumberbatch’s have arrived in Kauai and we are settling him in. “

“Tracy, she will be fine to not know that I am here…” Ben said. 

“Oh goodness, clearly you don’t know your niece, she has been beside herself worried about you.” Tracy laughed. “This is what I get for having a daughter and a baby brother who are only two years apart in age, and happen to be very best friends.” 

“This what I get for waiting so long between children.” Wanda chimed in.

“You only had to wait because you were simply waiting for me to come around darling.” Timothy said and gathered her up in his arms and kissed her. “It took a little time for our paths to cross and then I had to pluck up the courage to ask you out and then he took forever to get here…” 

“Oh god, I really don’t need to know any of this.” Ben said and laughed. “Please, go do whatever weird sort of old person romance thing you are going to do somewhere not adjacent to my being. I really, really need a nap. I am exhausted and if you would like me to at least be cordial to the rest of the family and to Dominic’s family tonight, I need something like two hours. Go, please, someone with some sort of authority show me where I will be laying my head.”

“I have him. Go mummy, Pop.” Tracy smiled.

Timothy smiled and wrapped his arm around his wife and took her away. Ben smiled at the sight of them, this many years on and they still loved each other very much. “Ugh, I am going to have to find a third husband to be that happy.” Tracy said and shook her head. “Come on.”

“Are you looking for a third husband?” Ben asked laughing as he once again set off on his way to the condo that had been rented for him. 

“Darling baby brother, I am always looking for the next future ex-husband.” She smiled. “And who knows maybe one of these handsome young island men will think, my god, what a beautiful older wealthy woman, what is trading in living on a tropical island for living on a cold and rainy one? They can simply follow me back to the U.K.” She grinned at him. “I can just pray can’t I?”

Ben laughed. “Yes, please keep praying.” 

They reached the steps and headed up and to the second floor. She kicked off her sandals and smiled. “No shoes in the house, come on, off with them. Mum had the hardest time with this last night when we got here, now she is walking around like she’s always done it.” Tracy shook her head and opened the door. “It’s not very big, just one bedroom, but the view is fantastic from that bedroom, and then if anyone of our drunken relations wants to come over and try and sleep here you can kick them out. Mum, Pop and myself are directly across, Emily and Dominic are above us, and everyone else is sort of spread out around us. The pool is on the other side of our building if you want to swim there and not in the ocean, though I think Dominic said something about grabbing you and Jeremy - and going surfing down the beach a little, which let me tell you is like walking on bird seed.” 

Ben smiled and just let his sister ramble on as he followed her in to well-appointed flat. It was exactly what he needed, nothing too lush, but clearly the insides were done better than the outsides were. “I am sure I will spend equal time in the ocean and in the pool.” 

“I am sure you will, you’ll be brown as a nut when all this is done, we all will.” She laughed and came back in to the living room. “I’ve gone to the store and stocked your basic foods. So you don’t always have to come over to us, but you know you are always welcome.” She smiled and touched his face. “I am so thrilled that you are here brother.”

“I am thrilled to be here. I am excited for this vacation and I am more the happy to be the one walking her down the aisle. I am shocked she asked me, I thought she would have had Da do it.” Ben said. 

“You’ve been her best friend since she was 2 hours old Ben. After her Da died, she couldn’t think of anyone better to give her away then you. I am thrilled you said yes.” Tracy smiled.

“BEN! ARE YOU HERE!?!” a voice called out from somewhere outside the condo. There was a great clattering on stairs and soon the door swung open and he was bombarded by a small blond thing wrapped around him tightly as could be. “Oh my god, I was so worried you’d never get here, my god, how many interviews did you have to do exactly, oh what does it matter you here now and we can really start to celebrate my wedding! I’m actually getting married! Can you believe it?”

Ben laughed and pushed his niece out to arm’s length and looked at her and smiled. “Well, hello to you too. And I can, and I couldn’t be happier for two people I love more. I also couldn’t be more thrilled with the place you chose, my god, this is perfect!” 

“I know! It’s really romantic when the sun comes up, there is a heiau at the end of the property that is the most sacred on all of the island, me and Gin were just walking there, and we saw Granny and PopPop coming back, and we rushed over here, that’s why we are out of breath. Ben you remember Gin right?”

Ben looked up at the person who was standing quietly behind them. He looked at her, and after blinking a few times, it all sunk into place. “Imogene?” 

She cast her eyes down and nodded. “Yes, Hello Ben.” She smiled a little. 

She was certainly different then the last time he had seen her, nearly, what was it now, fourteen years, no it couldn’t be that long ago. But it was, it had been fourteen years since he had last seen Imogene Menzies, the girl who was a year younger than Emily, who had followed him around for as long as he could remember. 

The last time he had seen her, she had her hair in braided pigtails, her teeth were still hidden behind the metal of braces and she had knobby knees and was think as a rail, but now, now she was a vision. Gone were the braces, and the glasses that hid the blue eyes that he had never noticed before, the curves that he had never suspected in her girlhood had certainly come to pass in her women hood. She was round in all of the right ways and her hair was still the most beautiful shade of red he had ever seen, but now, it was lighter at the ends. He was sure that was her doing. He cleared his throat and let go of Emily and held out his hand for her. “It’s nice to see you, you look wonderful. The last time I saw you was…what, fourteen years ago, I was just back from my year in abroad.” 

“I was 17.”She replied.

“You were, you have changed.” He grinned.

“For the better I hope.” She said.

“You’ve grown into a beautiful, stunningly beautiful woman.” He smiled. “I am sad I didn’t get to witness the transformation first hand.”

“I am sad you didn’t either.” She said. “Emily, we should really be getting back. Dominic will be looking for us, remember?”

“Yeah. I do.” Emily replied. “Okay, you rest up and I will see you later, I love you Ben and I am really glad that you are here to give me away. I wouldn’t want anyone else to do it!” She hugged him tightly again and grabbed Imogene by the arm and lead her back out the door, in just as much of a flurry as she came in. 

Tracy looked at her. “They say brides should be happy and she is. Thank god, I don’t think I could handle her if she wasn’t.” She laughed. “Rest, I will see you tonight for the luau.” 

“Oh god, we are doing that tonight?” He asked. “Already?”

“Yes, we are making the most of all this!” She laughed. “I will see you later little brother.” Tracy kissed him on the cheek and left him.

He was finally alone, and glad of it. He went over and opened the back door, looking out into the bay. Somehow, this trip just got a whole lot more interesting with the appearance of Imogene.


	2. Chapter 2

Ben woke with a start to the sound of the alarm, blinking once and then twice to come fully awake. He ran his hand over his face and moaned. Where on earth was he? Oh yes. The island of Kauai, in Hawaii. That was right. Emily was getting married. 

And she had brought Imogene Menzies along with her. He hadn’t really thought about her in the years since he had last seen her, but he certainly was thinking about her now. When had she turned in to that ravishing beauty? Had he really missed it? Had he seen her in those years and just not realized? 

He sat up in the bed and looked out the back door of the bedroom, the window open to let the breeze in, the screen closed to keep the bugs out, he quickly learned that after the first 30 minutes. Once his heart rate returned to normal, he had finally been able to return to sleep and settle in. 

He stood and then heard the knock at the front door, followed by a voice. “Ben? Are you awake?”

Imogene. 

“Yeah, give me a moment, I just woke up.” He said coming down the short hall to the screen door and unlocking it. “Come in, I was just going to use the loo.” 

“Oh, Emily just sent me to make sure you were up, I can leave you if you want…” She looked at him as she slipped off her shoes and stepped in. “I just finished getting ready a lot quicker than Emily did. I have loved every second of being outside here.” 

He smiled. “I don’t mind the company as I get ready. Give me ten minutes to jump in the shower and I will be back out here.” 

She nodded. “I’ll be out on your back deck then.” 

“I’ll meet you there.” He smiled. 

She walked by him and her hand grazed his. The electricity that flashed up his arm nearly short circuited his brain. What was going on? Why was he suddenly feeling like this?

He walked in to the bathroom and started the shower. He thought about the woman who was out on the back deck of his flat. Imogene with her red hair and freckles across the bridge of her nose. The girl who would push up her glasses and just stare at him. He had been merciless in his teasing of her. But she had taken every barb, every unkind word and said nothing. He couldn’t imagine why she would have done that, now looking back at it, he would have chinned himself a few times. 

And now here she was sitting out there, on his back porch, looking like something out of a magazine. Her hair done up in curls, piled up in a ponytail on her head. Her makeup perfectly done with the dark kohl around her eyes winged just right. Her lips a shade of red that could only be described as the same color as an apple. He moaned at the very thought of her. She was in a word, perfection. Perfection that he had somehow missed. How had he missed it?

He quickly showered, promising himself something longer and much more satisfying later on. He quickly dried himself, and put on a pair of pants and then found a pair of shorts. He headed out towards where she was sitting waiting for him to return and found her sitting on the lounger, feet up watching the ocean simply pull in and pull out. He stood there, and just looked at her. He had never seen anyone person look so beautiful in his life. 

“I’m sorry I took so long.” He said finally, as he slid his arms in to the shirt he was going to wear. “The shower, while, very high powered is not made for anyone over five and a half feet tall.” He sat on the other lounger facing her. 

She nodded and smiled at him. “It’s fine. I could just sit here and watch the ocean all night honestly, I didn’t mind at all.” 

“I am glad. I can’t believe they decided to do the luau the very first night. I wish they would have given some of us a little more time to adjust.” He laughed and started to button up the shirt, but not before noticing that her eyes watched him. “But, Emily is nothing if not, overly organized.”

Imogene snorted a little and nodded. “You can defiantly say that, I had a 14 page itinerary in my hand when I showed up at Heathrow. I was like, I honestly plan on getting up, going to the beach, going to the pool, going to bed, and repeating as much as I can, unless there is something for the wedding I need to do. Then I will do make up and whatever else it is that a maid of honor does.”

He shook his head. “I lucked out, I only have to show up for rehearsal and the actual ceremony.”

“Oh, you are so lucky.” She smiled and looked at her cell sitting in her lap. She sighed. “We should go before they start calling us. Are you ready?”

“Yeah, I just need to grab my boat shoes.” He smiled and stood up, holding a hand out for her. 

She looked at it for a second and then placed her hand into it and stood. She smiled and looked up at him. “Thank you.”

“You are so very welcome.” He replied. 

/////

Ben sat next to his mum at the long table. “Do you want me to get you anything to drink? We of course had to pick the furthest table from eating.” He sighed. “Did you really have to spend all the time trying to save that chick Mum? I am sure they wouldn’t have let it die.”

“I did, no one from this place seemed to be paying any attention to the dear little thing. It looked so sad and in need of its mummy.” She said. “And I would love another Mai Tai, be a dear and get me one, oh and your father one as well, he will be back from the loo soon enough.”

Ben stood up and headed towards the tables where they were. He saw Imogene coming towards him. “Imogene…”He called out to her. 

She looked up at him and there was a faint look of surprise, but then she smiled a little and walked over to him. “Yes?”

“Did you find a place to sit? If not, could I interest you in a table with me and septuagenarians and my sister possibly? I am sure it’s not the best offer you’ve gotten tonight, but I thought it would save you a little from Emily, and since she looks like she is trying to hoover off Dom’s face…” He said motioned to where his niece and her fiancée sat, kissing.

Imogene laughed a little and nodded. “I would love to sit with you.”

“Really? That worked?” He asked. 

“It did. You seem surprised.” She replied. 

“I am a little. I figured there had to be some better option than myself, but my god, I will take it. Come with me? I am getting Mai Tais. Would you like one?” Ben asked. 

“Trying to get me tipsy so I will kiss you Ben?” She asked. Her hands flew to her mouth. “Oh my god, I don’t know why I said that. I’m sorry, that was presumptuous of me.”

He leaned in and whispered by her ear. “It’s not very presumptuous if it is the blatant truth now is it?” He righted himself and handed her two of the small cups and took two more and smiled at her. The deep blush that centered on her cheeks was close to the same color red as the cherries on her dress. 

“You couldn’t possibly want to kiss me.” She said. “How many of these have you had already?” She asked raising her eyebrow and following him back towards the table. 

“This is the second one. Our table hasn’t been called up yet to eat.” He smiled. “And you don’t know what I want to do.” 

“Oh, I am pretty sure I do.” She said quietly. 

Before Ben could say anything thing, his mother’s voice boomed across the room. “Oh Imogene, I am so glad that you’re here, have you come to sit with us?”

“I have if you don’t mind my encroaching on you. I would have sat with Emily and Dom but they are still checking to see if they each have tonsils. I am have assured them both that they do, but it is to no avail.” She smiled and sat down next to his mother. 

“Oh to be young and in love. I remember the days leading up to mine and Timothy’s wedding, there is something magical about it, I could barely keep my hands off him.” She smiled. 

“Mum, I’m right here.” Ben said pulling a face. He had moved around the table to sit next to his newly returned father. 

“Oh Ben, it’s not like you don’t know what goes on, or that she can keep her hands off me now.” Timothy smiled at his wife, taking her hand and kissing the back of it. 

Ben looked at them. “I just threw up a bit in my mouth. Please, not before dinner. I don’t need to know about anything you two might do.” He said. 

Imogene giggled, leaning in and bumping his mother’s shoulder with her own. “I think it’s romantic that you two love each other after so long. When I get married someday, I hope it is for as long as you. And I hope that I find a man who I love as much as you love Tim.” 

“You aren’t engaged to Rhys anymore?” Wanda asked.

Ben raised an eyebrow. Of course she would be engaged, she was perfection. “Rhys? Pugette?” He asked. 

She looked at him and nodded. “Yes, Rhys Pugette and no, he and I are not engaged any more. He found a girl who fit more into his…lifestyle then I did.” 

“Oh dear I am so sorry.” Wanda touched her hand lovingly. 

“It’s really fine. I have been working on getting my career really up and going. I hadn’t realized how much he had been holding me back, and I love sleeping in my big bed without him.” She laughed. “It’s a good thing, believe me. And I get to come to Hawaii and not have any dead weight hanging around my neck. This is all very good. I am thrilled to not have him. Six months ago it would have been a very different story, but now, I am good.” 

“So are you looking for someone?” Ben asked, surprising himself. 

She smiled a little. “Perhaps.”

“Oh, well, then my offer from before stands.” He said and took a drink of his Mai Tai, and watched her blush.


	3. Chapter 3

Ben didn’t react much when he felt the hands grasp around his ankles, nor did he react when he felt the covers slowly slide off him. 

He did however react when he felt himself get tossed from the bed unceremoniously onto the floor. He landed with a thud. “Son of a…” He managed to get up before the entirety of the room began to pitch and spin violently. 

The laughter from on high was enough to know that he had been invaded. And he could only imagine by whom. He looked up and saw Dominic and Bryan standing there, hands planted firmly on their waists. “Why are you still in bed, at…10:45?” Dominic asked. “Come on, the surfing in the bay is good all day, get dressed, and let us away!”

Ben moaned. “Could you possibly not speak so loud?” He said and held his head firmly in his hands, trying to stop the spinning.

“Oh my god. Are you…dare I even say the words… Hung over?” Bryan asked, squatting to his haunches and looking at Ben critically. “Say it isn’t so, you the paragon of being able to drink us ALL under the table, YOU, the one who said and I quote last night ‘These mai tai’s barely have anything in them’ as he downed his sixth one.” He smiled a little. “You cousin, are hung over!”

Ben managed to get one eye out from behind his hand and looked at him. “I hate you, I should have drowned you when I had the chance when you were small.” 

Bryan began to laugh and clapped Ben on the back. “Oh my, it seems Hawaii is already doing my dear cousin in.” 

“Apparently it has. He has been all the talk in my flat this morning.” Dominic said and smiled. 

Ben uncovered his face and looked up at the man who would be marrying his niece in eight, no, wait, it was seven now. Yes, in seven short days. “What on earth does that mean?” 

“You know Imogene is staying with me and Em right?” Dom asked and went over and sat in the arm chair in the corner of the room. “Well, it seems you and her caught the VERY last bus back last night and that that you made out for the whole five minutes it took you to get here and that you are a bloody FANTASTIC kisser and that she should have said yes when you asked her to come up. But no, waiting and making you work a little harder for it was right. Just because she has had a crush on you her whole life doesn’t mean she should just give it up to you…” 

Ben groaned and lay back on the floor, covering his face once more. “Fuck.”

“What?” Bryan asked. 

“I don’t remember any of last night after, well, pretty much after we sat down for dinner…” He sighed. 

“What?” Bryan and Dominic asked in perfect unison. 

“I don’t remember. I remember getting there, and flirting a little with Imogene, because, damn, that dress, but then we sat down for dinner and they kept filling up Mai Tai glasses and then dad went to the bar, and Oh my god, I didn’t do anything embarrassing did I?” Ben asked, half groaning. 

“No, I mean, I didn’t hear Imogene say anything to lead me to think otherwise.” Dominic said, shrugging a little. “What are you going to do, Imogene clearly is going to think that you and she had a moment last night, and frankly, the two of you were very cozy and close last night. And I am telling you, she has had a crush on you forever.”

Ben let out an exasperated sigh. “I don’t know what I am going to do. I just, I mean, fuck she turned out to be way more beautiful than I ever thought she was going to. But there is something else about her, a sweetness, a gentleness…”He rubbed his face and moaned. “I really like her and sounding totally shallow, she is god, she is fit in a way that I just love. Curves and lusciousness and just perfection.”

Bryan looked at him and shook his head. “She’s been following you around like a puppy for years Ben and you have never once even looked in her direction.” He moved and sat down on the ground, wrapping his arms around his knees and looking at him. “Ever, if I remember correctly there were a few times you came home from Heathrow and she was at the house and you did some pretty mean things to her.”

Ben lay back on the floor, covering his face with his hands. “I know, this is where I sound shallow.”

“Increasingly so.” Dominic said. “What exactly did you do to her?” 

Ben sighed. The memories of his misspent childhood came flooding back to him. He lay his arm across his eyes. “You don’t want to know, you won’t like me when I get done telling you. Let’s just say I’ve not always been the nicest guy.”

“That I can believe.” Dominic said. 

Ben moved his arm and looked at him. “You’re supposed to be making me feel better, that is not doing it.” 

“Sorry.”

“What am I supposed to do?” He asked finally struggling to sit up a little moving to rest his back against the night stand. “I want to try and do something while I am here with her.”

Bryan looked at him. “Only while you are here, or while you are home too?” 

Ben looked at him, his eyes went a little wide, chewing his lips. “I’m not sure.”

“Then that is something that you need to decide.” Dominic said. “But I wouldn’t start anything until you’re sure what you want to do.”

“You don’t think I know that?” He said. 

“Really, I don’t know what the hell you think.” Dominic said and laughed. “Are we surfing?”

“Yeah,” Ben sighed, nodding. “We are.”

////

Ben came back up onto the beach and on the grass. It was hard to get one’s footing on the ever changing sand and it was just easier to get above the tide line. He sat on the towel that he had laid out and looked back in to the water. Bryan and Dominic had wanted to catch a few more waves, but the strong current and his recent lack of surfing had quite finished him off for the day. He was done after the last mouthful of water. He was ready to call it all a day when it came to this particular leisure activity. He reached over and grabbed the other towel he had brought out with him and began to dry himself off so he could reapply sun screen on himself. People were right, the sun here was intense even in winter. 

He was glad for the time to himself, to think about what he had been by Dominic and Bryan about the night before. He needed time to evaluate, to think about what was going on. To think about Imogene. 

Imogene. A girl, who before she walked in to his life the day before, had not crossed him mind in, well years. But there she had been, luscious curves, beautiful ginger hair, big blue eyes and her own sweet special style. 

And then, last night she showed up at his door, and he was floored again. She was even more beautiful if that was possible and he somehow managed to act like a complete tit. Or at least that is what they told him. God what had he been thinking?

“Do you need me to put that on your back for you?” A voice asked quietly behind him. Ben turned his head and looked up, Imogene stood there in her bikini and cover up. Ben tried to move his mouth for a second, but he couldn’t get the words out for several solid seconds. “Um, are you okay?”

“I…Yes. Sorry, I wasn’t expecting anyone.” He replied and looked at her. He watched her sink onto the towel behind him. 

“It’s okay.” She smiled and reached out and pushed a little bit of hair from his eyes. “How was the surfing, it looked rough from the balcony?”

“It was.” He said. “You were watching?”

“I was having something to drink and watching out, I saw a few of your runs to shore.” She smiled a little. “I also saw the few times you tipped over.”

“Haha, laugh it up, it’s very rough, this is that part of the Island with the best surfing…” He started. 

“Because of the way the river meets the ocean, oh, I know, I have heard all about it from Dominic.” She laughed, reaching to push the errant piece of hair from his eyes again. “He’s very proud of his little island. And it’s beautiful. Em, Dom and I are going hiking tomorrow, do you want to go?” 

Ben smiled and nodded. “I would love it.”

“I would too.” She smiled. “Are you ready?”

Ben nodded, handing her the lotion and smiling. “It should be warm it has been in the sun, but, if not, I am sure your warm hands will do the trick.” 

She smiled and squirted some in her hands. She rubbed it together and began to put it on her back and settled in closer to his back. She took her time, her hands following each curve and contour. “Your back is perfect you know.” She smiled. 

“Is it now?” He smiled.

“Yes. All the right kind of slopes and contours.” She said and leaned in a little and kissed his neck. “Just the right amount of freckles.”

“Freckles?” He laughed. “Really?”

“Oh yes. One right there, and one there.” She said point to each one, touching them gently. “One here.” She said touching a place on his shoulder and then kissing it softly. “Another there.” She repeated the same action. 

Ben was enraptured. Had she been this bold the night before, or had his actions the night before made her this bold? He wished he could remember, but either way, he was going to enjoy every second of it. “What about here? Is there a freckle here?” He asked pointing to his mouth. 

Imogene finished wiping the lotion in to his back and then took his face in his hands and studied it intently for a few moments, finally smiling and nodding. “It’s very, very faint, but there, I guess I need to kiss that one too.” 

Ben smiled, looking into her beautiful bright eyes. “I think you do.”

She was tentative at first and brushed her lips over his, but soon she was kissing him. Deeply, madly and with passion. Ben wrapped his arms around her bare waist and pulled her into his lap and held her there. He was going to make sure that he remembered kissing her this time. She pulled away from him finally and looked at him. 

“I hope that what you said last night, I hope that was true Ben.” She said, her voice barely carrying over the pounding of the surf. 

_FUCK_. What had he said to her? He looked her deep in the eyes, hoping, praying for anything, but there was nothing but electric blue staring back at him. “Every word of it.” 

She grinned and ran her fingers in his hair and smiled. “I am glad.” She leaned in and kissed him one more time. “You don’t realize how long I have wait to hear…well, let’s just say it’s been a really long time and I am glad we are finally adult enough to be able to have this kind of conversation.”

He nodded, leaning in and kissing her. “Me too.” He knew right in that very moment he was sunk.

What on earth was he going to do?


	4. Chapter 4

Ben paced like a caged tiger in the condo. He heard the foot falls on the stairs and looked up to see Emily coming in the door. He went over to her and grabbed her by the shoulders. “I need help!”

“Oh my god, on so many levels and in so many ways, but I somehow don’t think that this has a thing to do with that…”She replied with a grin. 

Ben let her go, moved to sit down on the couch and put his face in his hands. “I have a slight, teeny tiny little, minor problem.” He sighed deeply and looked up, meeting her eyes. “I don’t remember _anything_ about last night with Imogene, not the kissing, which I am sad to say I missed, not the conversation and not whatever it was that I promised her. I need you to tell me what it was.”

Ben watched Emily cross her arms in front of her and raise an eye brow at him. “No.”

“What? Why!?!” He asked, pleading. 

“Because, you made this fine mess and you will get yourself out of it. And I am going to say this to you Benedict. I have never, in all of my years being best mates with Imogene, ever seen her happier then I have this morning and so far this afternoon. And as much as I hate to say it, you are the reason for it. You do know that she adores you, and has since we were old enough to know that boys were different right?” Emily asked him. 

“Yes, but I always just thought she was, annoying.” He replied. “I was, sadly mistaken, if I had known she was going to turn out to look like that…” 

Emily made a noise, grabbed up a throw pillow and began to thoroughly pummel him about the head and shoulders with it. “How dare you! I am telling Nana!!” 

“Stop, stop! I meant it as a compliment!” He said holding up his hands in surrender. 

She gave him one more good whack and tossed the pillow aside plopping down in the chair, looking at him contemptuously. “I can’t believe you said something so, so, shallow Benedict!”

“Emily really? I am a man, and a hot red blooded one at that. And she is, beautiful beyond measure. I mean, really honestly, if I didn’t know her and I saw her on the street I would have stopped her and asked for her mobile number. She is that beautiful. I just never would have expected, the Imogene that we know when she was younger to become the goddess that she is now.” He said. “And funny, and smart. She had me in stitches on the grass today.” 

Emily looked at him. “You mean that?” 

“Absolutely. She sat on my lap for, sometime and kissed every new freckle that appeared in the sun.” Ben smiled at the memory from earlier. “I just want to know what I said, so I don’t screw it up Emily, I want to make sure that whatever I do with her, I do right and that it make it all work out.” 

“Then just be a good man, and be honorable Ben, that is the best thing you can do and I am sure you’ll fulfill whatever promise that you made to her.” She said. 

“I hate that you won’t tell me what I said, I am beginning to think I picked the wrong kid to be best friends with.” He frowned a little. 

“You picked the right Peacock to be best friends with, between my brother and I, I am the much better choice.” Emily laughed and shook her head. “You know you can only take my brother in very very small doses, I am surprised you lasted as long with him as you did today.” 

“I think everyone was surprised that I did..” He said. “What are the plans for the rest of the day?”

“It all depends on what you are going to do tonight for dinner? Are you going to be a part of the hive mind and have steaks with the family?” She asked. “Or are you going to take her out to eh nice fancy seaside restaurant at the hotel next door?”

Ben looked at her. “Nice restaurant huh?”

“Supposedly, the nicest on the island. Hukilau Lanai.” Emily said. “Nice place to be proposed too, if I say so myself.” She grinned and spun her ring around on her finger. “I’ll call and make you reservations while you come over and ask her out.”

“Now you’re setting me up on dates?” Ben asked.

“When it comes to her and you, yes, yes I am.” She smiled. “Ben, I promise you, what you said to her last night, isn’t bad and it is easy enough to for you achieve.” She stood up, holding her hand out for him to take. He grabbed it and she pulled him to his feet and wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged her tight. “And really, I would be most happy if you were to date my best friend.”

“Really?” He asked looking down at Emily. “Are you sure this hasn’t been some kind of end game of yours since the very beginning?” 

“You’ll never know will you?” She said giving him a look.

“You are incredibly devious. I really should have drowned you when you were an infant.” Ben said. 

“You love me.” She laughed. “I’ll go make the reservation, you come over and invite my best friend out on a date. It’s a very good thing I booked you this single condo isn’t it?” She let go of his waist and turned and headed towards the door. “You can be uninterrupted when you come back.”

“You have been planning all of this. Drowned!” He called after her as she made her way down the hall and out the screen door. He shook his head. 

Part of him knew that some of his fears should have been put to rest, but they really hadn’t been. They were still there, and instead of them being big fears they were simply smaller, more diced up ones. Clearly whatever he had said hadn’t been anything to serious, Emily surely would have told him. At least he hoped she would have, but he supposed this was all part of that elusive girl code that he had heard Louise and Amanda speaking about before he left. He rubbed his face and grabbed the keys off the counter, locking the door and starting the short trek across the complex to where they were staying. 

He stopped quickly to inform his mother that he and Imogene would not be attending the dinner that night. She smiled, clapping her hands together, going on about how wonderful that would be. Ben looked at her. Was every woman in his life conspiring against him? Every one of them? Lord. He kissed his mother’s cheek and went on his way.

He walked up the two flights of stairs and pulled the screen door open. He could hear the voices in the center room and walked down the hall to find Dominic and Bryan sitting there playing with the TV. They looked up at him and shook their heads. “Well you’ve gone and done it now.” Bryan said. 

“Gone and done what?” He asked. 

“They are in the bed room and there is giggling. Whatever it is that you have done or are going to do, you have our condolences.” Dominic said. 

Ben frowned a little. “I am telling my niece you said that. She won’t be happy.”

“What won’t I be happy about?” Emily said just then coming out of the back hall way, and looking at her fiancé. 

“Um, I…er.” He started. 

“Nothing he was just teasing me.” Ben said. 

Emily walked over and walloped him on the back of the head and then leaned down and kissed him on the lips. “It’s all done Ben.” She said, setting herself down on Dominic’s lap. 

“What’s all done?” Imogene’s voice said as she walked in to the room. 

Ben had to stop himself from staring at her. He was beginning to love, whatever this style esthetic that she had going on was. The halter dress, with the big bold tropical pattern on it, hugger her perfect hourglass shape. He worked his mouth a second and then finally got out. “May I speak to you on the porch?”

“It’s called a lanai here.” She smiled, nodding. “But yes, I would love it.”

“Excellent.” He said and followed her back down the small hall and out the door. “I was wondering, if you, well, if you would like to have dinner with me tonight, at the fancy restaurant at the hotel next door. The family will be, well the family tonight and I’m sure two nights of Cumberbatchs in a row, would be quite a bit too much.” He said. He was sure he was sounding a bit like a ninny. 

When had he ever been this nervous around a girl before? He couldn’t believe it. He wasn’t sure this was something that he was liking at all. She made him feel like an inexperienced teenager all over again. What on earth was going on here?

“I would love it, what time?” She asked. 

“Um, er…I’ll let you know, I’ve not been confirmed on the reservations yet.” He said, hopefully covering himself. 

She stepped in close to him and casually wrapped her arms around his neck, looking up at him. “Gonna have a little bit of the hair of the dog and do more mai tais tonight?” She said as she leaned up and kissed him very sweetly on the lips. 

He didn’t answer her, he couldn’t, all he could do in that moment, with the breeze blowing the sweet smell of island flowers, and the feel of her body pressed in to him, was deepen the kiss. He pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arms around her waist, his hands dropping as low as he dared. She moaned sweetly and pulled away, flushed, her pupils blown with lust. “I’m not saying, that if anything happens tonight I’d turn it down…”

He tried to look scandalized, but all he was sure he was conveying was pure lust. He never thought he’d hear her say those words. “Really?”

“Really, I mean, I was kinda ready last night, but it didn’t seem right after the third time you feel asleep in my cleavage.” She giggled and kissed him. “I mean, I am into some weird stuff, light bondage, blindfolds, I do like it rough…but, I draw the line at passed out.”

Ben turned them so she back was against the wall, he pressed her to it and kissed her deeply once more, and with a great deal of passion. When he broke away he looked into her eyes. “You just put gasoline on a fire that was already burning pretty bright for you, did you know that?” 

She bit her lip and nodded. “Oh, I think I did.” She smiled. “I think I did.” She pushed him away from her. “Go ask Emily what time she made the reservation for and get out of here, I need to get pretty, I have a hot date with a handsome guy tonight.”

He smiled and kissed her again. “Okay. You could just wear this, you look stunning.”

“You like it?” She smiled. 

“I love it.” He grinned and kissed her again.

“Well, I will have to see what I have.” She smiled “Now go.” She pushed him away and smiled once more at him and walked back in to the condo.

He smiled after her and pulled out his phone,texted Emily and headed towards his condo. He was sure he was the luckiest man on the island.


	5. Chapter 5

Imogene stood in the small area of grass between the two buildings, her feet bare, watching the ocean. Ben smiled and stepped off the path, heading towards her. “You look stunning.” 

She looked up at him, her hair once more delicately balanced on the top of her head, the plumeria flowers piled high and tucked in to her red curls. She smiled at him, curtsying a little. “Thank you, I went on a binge shopping trip before we left. I think I bought every vintage swing dress that had an island theme to it in every shop in the whole of Great Britain.” 

He laughed a little and pushed the wisps of her fringe from her forehead and smiled. “Well, so far you have not disappointed me in any choice you have made. But the no shoe thing?”

“The grass is so different here, and I have always liked to have my shoes off.” She shrugged. “This seems to be the culture around here anyway.”

“That it is. Are you ready? I thought we would walk over, there is a path that connects the two properties along the beach.” He motioned towards the ocean. “If you don’t mind walking.”

She shook her head. “Not at all.” She smiled stepping in close to him. She wrapped her arms around his. 

He started them down the path, glad for the quite. It was strange, he was able to be like this with her. He didn’t have to fill up the silence with a great deal of talking. Not like the other girls he had been with in the past, they either had to be constantly talking about themselves or they constantly had to be reassured by him that they were the center of his universe. Imogen was different. She smiled and sighed happily and lay her head simply on his shoulder and walked with him, content just to be with him. 

That was what he liked about her. She was content to be with just him. No one else ever had been. He thought back to when they were younger, and she had always been like this. A lot of times when they were kids, he would be busy doing something, and she would be simply there reading a book, just content to be in the same room with him. Now he knew that was what it had been. Her need to be in the same room with him and nothing else. 

“So we are going hiking tomorrow to a water fall right?” He asked after they had walked a little bit. 

She nodded. “Yeah, we have to kayak there first, then hike one half of a mile, but apparently it’s well worth it.” She smiled. “I was thinking maybe you and I could share the kayak.”

Ben grinned like a ninny, nodding emphatically. “Oh I think I would like that very, very much.” He leaned down and kissed her lips quickly. 

“I thought you might.” She laughed and rubbed his arm. “I think I know just the swim suit I am going to wear too.” 

Ben stopped them and looked at her. “You’re a bloody tease you know that right?”

“Oh I do.” She laughed and stood on her tip toes, kissing him. “But we can’t dawdle here, we have reservations.”

He shook his head, following after her. They finally got to the resort and she slipped her shoes on, smiling at him. She grinned followed him in to the lobby of the hotel and to the desk. He gave his name, and they were escorted to the bar. Ben procured them both drinks, passing hers along once he returned to where they were sitting and settled down next to her. “Tell me more about your life at home. We’ve talked a lot about general stuff, but not much about your career, where you live, that kind of thing, or did we last night?”

He watched her take a sip of her drink, shaking her head no. “We talked about the loveliness of peacock’s last night at great length, and then you may have found another baby chick that you were determined to save and chased that around for a bit.” She giggled. 

“Oh god, Why are you even spending any time with me?” He asked, shaking his head. 

She laughed a little, leaning in and kissing him. “Because, all I have ever wanted to do Ben, for as long as I could remember was spend time with you.” 

“Really?” He asked. 

“Really.” She stated simply.

He looked at her, suddenly feeling very fidgety. He pushed his own hair from his forehead and let his fingers drag back through his locks. “I am not sure how to process all of that. I want to be excited about it, but I’m just so nervous about this.”

She furrowed her brow. “Oh.”

He glanced at her. “Oh god no, not like that. I like you so much, but you’re you.”

She looked at him. “Just Emily’s fat awkward friend.” She said quietly, taking a rather large drink.

Ben realized how much of an ass he much sound like. God he was so stupid, what was he doing? Was his nervousness and his uncertainty going to ruin this? What on earth was going on with him? He took a deep breath and tipped her chin up towards him and looked at her. “You were always such an enigma to me when we were younger. You weren’t like any of Emily’s other friends. They were vapid…and…”

“Skinny?”

“Imogene, why are you doing that? Do you not know how amazing you are?” He asked, a little forcefully. 

“I know what everyone has always said about me. My entire like, ‘Oh look at sweet Imogene, she’s such a nice personality it’s a shame she’s so heavy…’ Look Ben, if you are going to give me that speech, or just are going to say anything of that nature, or are going to, just, not be the guy you showed me last night, I am going to just walk back over to the flat now. I just, I can take it from anyone else. I don’t think I can take that from you.” She said, her eyes filled with tears, threatening to spill over. 

He looked at her and took her face in his hands. He kissed her deeply, more deeply than he had kissed her yet he had hoped. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and take away all of the things that people, including him had said. He couldn’t believe people could be like that towards her. She was, something out of a fairytale. Ben couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but she was magic. He broke the kiss and looked at her. 

“You are, perfect. I’m not going to lie, I never looked at you like this before. I never looked past you just being the Imogene who was always there, because I always just saw you as Emily’s best mate. But you are so much more than that. You are smart and funny. You are a ray of sunshine. You make my heart warm. Most importantly Imogene, you are so incredibly beautiful, your blue eyes like the sea, pierce my soul.” Ben said quietly. “I am serious about whatever this is going to turn into. Do you understand that?”

She looked in his eyes and nodded. “I do, I just, and it’s not something I am used to hearing.”

“I know.” He said. “But it is something you will hear for the rest of forever from me. There is no reason not to.” 

She looked away from him. “You really don’t have to say these things Ben.”

“Clearly I do.” He said. “And I plan on continuing to say it. Because the way your eyes sparkle when I do and the blush you get on your checks, makes it all worth it.” 

She laughed a little. “You’re terrible.” 

“I’ve been told that.” He said, pulling her in to another kiss, he broke it and looked at her, his thumb running over her cheek. He smiled, “Come back to my place tonight, please, we don’t have to do anything, if you think that’s why I am asking you, I just want to listen to the waves crash and hold you and kiss you and show you just how beautiful you are.”

She smiled at him. “I think I can do that, but I wore fancy knickers so let’s not take the something more off the table just yet okay?”

Ben’s mouth started to move up and down, but no sound came out of it. He finally just shut it, nodding enthusiastically. Finally he was able to get some words out. “Of course, I mean I am always ready to make out with the prettiest girl on the island.”

She laughed and bumped her shoulder in to his. “You don’t have to try so hard you know, you already have me hook, line and sinker.”

Before Ben could reply the hostess was coming to seat them. He stood, took her by the hand and walked through the restaurant proudly showing off the woman he was with. He knew he was with the most beautiful woman there and that was all that mattered. He pulled the chair out for her and settled her in before sitting down himself, only half listening as the hostess went through her little rundown, then finally left them. Ben looked across the table at her in the dim candle light. “You will forgive me for everything earlier right?”

She nodded. “I will, if you can forgive me for being self-conscious, I know it’s not the best quality, but it is something that I deal with.” 

“Well, you don’t have to worry about being that way with me. I promise you, I find you enchanting.” He said as he looked at the menu, peering over the top of it at her smiling. 

She smiled back at him and turned her attention back to her menu. The rest of their meal was quiet and amiable. There was no more talk of her self-consciousness and thankfully Ben managed to keep from being an ass and putting his foot in his mouth at a minimum. He did have several Freudian slips that caused giggles and blushes on both of their parts, but nothing that showed how much of an ass he could be at times, he was thrilled about that.

He finally stood at the end of the meal and held his hand out to her. “Are you ready?”

She nodded and stood, taking it and leaning up to kiss him. “I think I am, it’ll be a nice walk back, but slow, I am full.”

He nodded. “Of course.” He smiled. “Anything for you.” Ben guided her out of the restaurant and back across the lawn and they started the long walk back to the flat, both content once more to be with each other in silence.


	6. Chapter 6

Ben woke up in the middle of the night warm. Which was something of a mystery because he had simply been comfortable the last evening. It was then that he heard the muffled snore next to him, that he realized he was not in bed alone, and it was the heat from a body pressed in to him that was causing the extra warmth. He grinned, turning a little, kissing her shoulder. Imogene didn’t rouse at all. 

Ben stood and stretched. He walked over to the arcadia door, opening it all the way and closing the screen all the way. That instantly dropped the temperature in the room a degree or two. He smiled, thinking he was going to have to sleep like that in order to keep up with having the extra body next to him. He turned around, and there she sat up in bed, sheets half wrapped around her hair all disheveled, long milky white thigh in full view. 

“You got up.” She said, sleep still thick in her voice. 

“You sleep warm.” He said and went over and sat back on the bed, his fingers tracing up her leg slowly from her ankle, to her calf, slowly over her knee and finally disappearing over her thigh to the hidden treasure between her legs. 

She smiled, and scooted closer to him. She rested her head on his shoulder. “It’s a great skill to have in the winter.” 

“I bet it is.” He said. “I can’t wait to test it out.”

She gasped a little and rocked her hips. “I am…I just quiver with excitement about it.”

“Oh you’re quivering with something…”He growled, pushing her back down on to the bed. He never once stopped his hand as he shifted his position over her and kissed her deeply, his mouth taking every drop of her kisses. He slowly began to work his way down her body. He kissed across her chest from shoulder to shoulder, then finally down to one of her nipples. He sucked it in his mouth, working it into a tiny hard peak, letting it go with a pop. He worked down to her navel and he felt her hips buck. He knew where she wanted him to go. He knew where she wanted his mouth. But he was going to make her wait. He was going to prolong that torture a little longer. He made the completed the ‘v’ back up and to her other breast. 

Imogene moaned deeply causing him to look at her. In that second their eyes locked, he grinned. “Are you ready?”

“Oh god yes…” She breathed barely above a whisper.

He let one corner of his mouth hitch up, satisfied that he had this sort of effect on her. He lowered his mouth back to her body, slowly beginning to kiss down her pale skin. He was enjoying every second of it, every inch that he kissed got him closer and closer to his goal and he wanted nothing more than to taste her. He could feel her body trembling underneath her. He soon presented with his goal and he placed one more kiss there. 

He let his tongue dart out, finding her hidden bud. He pushed his tongue as flat as he could against it, lavishing on it. He was slow, meticulous, and cruel even with his ministrations. He was enjoying the sound of her mewling, of her moans, of her small gasps and cries. He had never thought about this with her and now, that he was doing it, it was all he could think about. How he could get back to this place of making her make these exquisite noises. How he could hear this symphony again. He wanted nothing more than that. Moreover, he wanted that with Imogene. 

He, himself moaned when he felt her hands wind in to his hair. He noticed that her cacophony of sound was less and less present. Until finally, it happened, what he had been working for, she reached her tipping point and he felt her body ignite. Her bud, her walls, her legs and everything about her quivered. He was intoxicated by the feeling of her losing control, he already was beginning to think this was going to be his drug of choice.

He kissed up her body, finding her mouth, kissing her with unbridled passion. “You are intoxicating.” He whispered to her. 

She blinked at him slowly, sleep already filling her eyes once more. “Not as much as you are.” She replied yawning. She snuggled into him, pulling him closer to her, her arms snaking around him. 

His hand ran over the curves of her back, the sound of the ocean and her soft puffs of breath of his neck lulling him back to sleep. 

When he woke next, the sun was streaming in the room and he was alone. He moaned and sat up in the bed looking around, running his hand out to where she had been. It was still relatively warm so, she hadn’t been gone long. He stood up, looking for and finding his pants, sliding them over his hips and heading out into the other room. 

His heart stopped in his chest. She was standing by the coffee maker in her lacy knickers and the dress shirt he had been wearing the night before and nothing more. Her hair haphazardly pulled up into a pony tail on her head. She had at some point in the evening, lost her contacts and was wearing her glasses that she kept in her purse as a precaution. Ben was certain that she had planned on staying the night with him, but he couldn’t be sure and he wasn’t going to ask, and risk offending her. He wanted her to keep spending the night with him. He went over, running his hand over her arms and kissing her neck. “Good Morning.” He said his voice deep with the sound of the morning. 

She smiled and settled back in to him. “Good morning.” She rested her head on his shoulder. “I don’t think I’ve slept so well in my life.”

“Really?” Ben asked, placing small kisses up behind her ear. 

“Really.” She breathed out, more a sigh then a word. “You’re going to get me very spoiled very quickly, and ruin me for all men after you. It’s not fair. No one will be able to stand up to what you’ve done.”  
He laughed, one of his hands gliding around to the front of her stomach and splaying his fingers wide. He smiled, pulling her back to him, to let her feel his ever present need for her. “You’re doing the same thing to me Imogene, you are ruining me for all other women. The little noises you make when I am licking at you’re…”

She giggled. “Shhh… We mustn’t not now. I am sure Emily will be here the absolute moment that she wakes up, which is why I put on my knickers. Very reluctantly I might add. She is going to come make sure that you didn’t soil my virtue and that I was a very, very good girl.“ Imogene’s grin spanned from one of her lovely ears to the other one. “She is most certainly not going to want to hear about you licking anything of mine.”

“No, she may not, and I am completely certain she doesn’t want to see it either, but you are so very tempting in this get up.” He smiled. “The button on my dress shirt is barely keeping your glorious breasts in, and I am loving every single second of that.” He let his finger fiddle with the straining button. 

“Oh no, you’re not going to be doing that.” She laughed. “You and I are going to make breakfast and if Emily doesn’t come storming in by the time we are done…maybe we can get in the shower together.”

Ben moaned and ground his hips in to her. “Are you sure we can’t shower first?” 

She laughed a little and shook her head. “No I need coffee before I can think of anything, including your glorious…um…well…yes.” Imogene laughed a little and wiggled her hips just as the coffee pot went through its final death throes of finishing off brewing. 

“You cruel and unusual woman you.” He said, moving away from her to reach up and get them down two coffee mugs. 

There was something wholly domestic about this, about sharing morning coffee and pastry with her. There was something that just simply seemed right. This was exactly what he was missing in his life. He had never had this level of comfort with any other woman he had ever been seeing. Even the ones that he was sure he had a future with. There was never this level of ease. But with Imogene there simply was. He couldn’t be sure if it was because he had known her for as long as he could remember or if it was because of something else. 

He had a certain ease around her. And he loved it. He turned and leaned on the counter and looked back at her. She stopped, looking up at him, her big blue eyes studying him from behind her glasses. “What?”

“This is nice, you know, me and you.” He smiled. 

She smiled back at him. “It is.”

“I’ve never had this with any girl I’ve ever dated. It’s always been so, I don’t know...contrived with them, but with you, it is so easy to simply be me, I’m not sure why, but I love it.” He smiled a little. 

“It’s only because I have been around since before I could walk, I’ve seen you throw yourself on the floor in not one, not two but no less than three tantrums. Possibly even more, I really think I have lost count one how many it really is, it boggles the mind.” Imogene smiled at him, taking the coffee cup from his hand. “I am old and familiar like a worn out pair of pants. You’ll soon get tired of me and discard me and throw me aside. But until then I am going to enjoy every single second of this.”

“I would never ever discard you.” Ben said simply.

“Really?” She asked quietly. 

“Honestly.” He said. 

Before there could be any further discussion there front door opened and closed with a loud thwap from the screen door. It wasn’t 5 more seconds before Emily stood in the kitchen her hands on her hips surveying the scene in front of her. “Well, well, well, I see how it is. I allow you to go on one date and the next thing I know, I go to check on someone in the morning to hear how it went, and said person is not there. So, since I am exceptionally smart….” 

“Oh yes, exceptionally…” Ben said, a little mockingly.

“You can just stop right now…” Emily continued. “As I was saying, so I thought to myself, where, oh where could that person be, I deduced and lo, here she is. Clearly having cannoddled herself right out of her dress and straight in to only her knickers with my uncle. How charming.”

“Oh please, you wanted this to happen since we were 17.” Imogene said, pulling down another cup. “And it has, so stop your complaining.”

“And it was grand.” Ben said, grinning at his niece. 

“Oh this is simply wrong on so many levels. You know what you keep all that to yourselves.” Emily made a fake gagging sound. “I am satisfied that you have not died. I guess I will be going. I can see I am no longer needed to keep you company.”

Imogene laughed. “I’ll be over in a little bit I have a few things I need to take care of here before I head over.”

Emily put her fingers in her ears. “I do not want to know about what the two of you do! But thank god you are finally doing it with each other!” There was laughing as she left. 

Ben looked at Imogene. “She’s your best friend.”

“Oh no, you’re not pinning this one on me, She’s you’re niece.” She laughed. 

“What exactly did you have to take care of?” He asked. 

“You’ll see.” She said. “Coffee first, then we’ll see about taking care of whatever comes up.” 

Ben looked at her. “You are a minx.”

“And you know it.”


End file.
